When I saw the trailer for "Just Getting Started", although I didn't expect it to be a terrible film, I certainly thought it would be better than it turned out considering the star power. The savings grace of this was about the last third of the film, otherwise the film was attempting to be one.
Morgan Freeman stars as Duke Diver, the freewheeling manager of the luxury Palm Springs resort, the Villa Capri. Diver may have a mysterious past, but he's a pro at making sure that life for the high-spirited residents is one big, non-stop party. But the status quo is challenged when ex-military charmer Leo (Tommy Lee Jones) checks in, triggering a competition between Duke and Leo for the top spot of Alpha male, as well as for the affections of the newly-arrived Suzie (Rene Russo). When Duke's life is threatened, and his cover is blown, he and Leo will have to put their animosities off to the side in order to combat Duke's enemies. Will they succeed or will their bantering get in their way in order to spare Duke's life?
Others to round out the cast are Joe Pantoliano as Joey, Glenne Headly as Margarite, Sheryl Lee Ralph as Roberta, Elizabeth Ashley as Lily, George Wallace as Larry, Graham Beckel as Burt, Mel Raido as Oscar, Nick Peine as Jimmy and Susan Conklin as Nina.
This was directed by veteran Ron Shelton ("Bull Durham" '88, "Blaze" '89, "White Men Can't Jump" '92, "Cobb" '94, "Tin Cup" '96, "Play It Too the bone" '99, "Dark Blue" '92, "Hollywood Homicide" '03, "Hound Dogs" (TV movie).'11) plus TV. Usually Shelton's pacing and staging is far better than this--certainly his earlier films being the best, but the staging in this was jerky and stiff at best. Everyone's emotions were practically on the same plane and the inflection of tone of the characters were similar. Shelton also wrote this as well. This filmmaker is a seasoned, veteran writer, writing most of the films he directs, but this film was choppy and meandered. Usually Shelton is a fair to a superb director and especially writer, however this seemed like he simply wanted to make it, put it together, and market it to make a fast buck. If this was he best, then what went wrong, bad day at the laptop? Not sure. Just about every scene was rife with stale jokes and banal dialogue. As I've stated earlier, the last third of the film was probably the best. Once this realized it was a film, it was clear in its conveyance to show us how these characters were going to solve the problem at hand. This was predictable, but although other films have been predictable, they still entertain us. This was predictable with very little entertainment factor included. The best thing about this was the star power. Both Freeman and Jones are consummate actors with a ton of experience-- it's just too bad that their collaborative efforts were wasted in a banal, tired script.
If you must see this, it will be for the star power--Freeman and Jones were at their classic best, otherwise the script, whereas had some funny parts, on the most part was a tired comedy with forced comedic lines and stiff staging.
Out of 4 Stars: 2 Rated: PG-13 90mins.
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